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Kevin Phillips has backed Leeds United to sign Nottingham Forest starlet Brennan Johnson.

The Lowdown: Leeds get ready for the 2021/22 campaign

Moving into the 2021/22 season, it will be fascinating to see how Marcelo Bielsa’s men go about improving upon their ninth-placed finish last term.

Making moves swiftly in the transfer market, the Whites have completed deals for Jack Harrison and Amari Miller respectively so far [The Athletic].

BBC pundit Phillips has now tipped the Yorkshiremen to acquire Nottingham Forest youngster Johnson and then loan him out after he spent the 2020/21 campaign on loan at Lincoln City.

Leeds are reported to be interested in the Wales international since last month and he is currently valued at around £10m by his current employers [The Athletic].

The Latest: Phillips backs Leeds for potential Brennan swoop

Enthralled by what he has witnessed from the 20-year-old attacker, Phillips told Football Insider: “He impressed me when he played in the playoff games against Sunderland. Especially in that first game. He looked very direct and got the goal so he’s not afraid to get forward.

“He travels well with the ball and he’s only young. From a Leeds point of view, can you sign him then loan him out?

“He’s definitely got a lot of talent. If he goes to Leeds he won’t be in the first team plans, I’m sure of it.

“Bielsa can get the best out of players like that, watch this space with that one.”

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The Verdict: Brennan would be an excellent acquisition

Phillips correctly points out Bielsa’s ability to maximise the output of players within his high-octane system.

In 2020/21, the versatile prodigy, who can play anywhere across the front four, made a startling impact as he registered 27 goal contributions from 48 appearances, with 13 goals and 14 assists [Transfermarkt].

He also demonstrated his fearlessness in shooting from any angle, averaging the highest shots per game average in the entire Imps squad with 2.3 per match [WhoScored].

Possessing the ability to develop into a top attacking player in years to come, Leeds could do a lot worse than to approach Nottingham Forest regarding a potential deal for Johnson.

In other news, Leeds United’s Premier League rivals have been left ‘stunned’ after the Whites finalised a transfer deal.

Now that the 2022 January transfer window has opened, this will spark a flurry of potential transfer deals across a range of clubs as they aim to strengthen their squads.

At Aston Villa, it has previously been reported that manager Steven Gerrard will be given the backing from the owners to make whatever changes to the club that he thinks will benefit them in terms of bringing new players in.

With this in mind, it could prove to be a very busy month for the Midlands club, on and off the pitch.

After making just nine Premier League appearances for Villa since joining on loan from Manchester United back in August, and with just eight minutes of league action since Gerrard’s took over from Dean Smith as Villa’s manager in November, it seems as though Axel Tuanzebe could be on his way out of the club.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano recently shared a post on his official Twitter account claiming that a deal has been worked out between United and Napoli that will see Tuanzebe spend the rest of the season on loan with the Italian club.

Taking this into account, it could be worth Villa bringing a new defender in to take Tuanzebe’s place in the squad so they aren’t depleted in that area.

Having been linked with a transfer move for Liverpool centre-back Joe Gomez in recent weeks, this update about Tuanzebe could now pave the way for Villa and Gerrard to finally secure a deal for the defender, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £85k-per-week according to Salary Sport, and bring him to Villa Park.

With a total of 82 appearances in the Premier League, Gomez would certainly bring a decent amount of experience with him to Villa as well as an elite winning mentality having won the Premier League and Champions League during his time at Anfield.

Labelled as a “sensational” player in the past by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, Gomez has found regular game time in the Premier League hard to come by this season with just three fairly short substitute appearances under his belt so far, which could result in a move to Villa being quite tempting for him if he’d get regular playing time under Gerrard’s guidance.

Moving forward, if Tuanzebe is set to leave Villa in the coming days, the club should be turning their attention to securing a deal for Gomez as soon as they can so the team doesn’t suffer should any of their other defenders end up with injuries or a positive virus test.

In other news: Forget Trezeguet: NSWE dropped AVFC transfer clanger with “horrible” £5.4m-rated dud – opinion

Newcastle United suffered a third successive Premier League defeat on Sunday, going down 5-1 away to Tottenham Hotspur.

Fabian Schar had put the visitors in front on 39 minutes, but goals from Ben Davies, Matt Doherty, Son Heung-min, Emerson Royal and Steven Bergwijn ultimately made it an emphatic victory for Antonio Conte’s side.

The result leaves Newcastle 15th in the table, still nine points clear of the relegation zone.

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Here at The Transfer Tavern, we delve into the three worst-rated starting outfielders for the Magpies as per statistical specialists SofaScore, with players required to feature for at least 45 minutes to feature. Collectively, this trio lost 71% of their ground duels and mustered a crossing accuracy of just 17%.

Joelinton – 5.8/10

Joelinton made his second consecutive start after missing a couple of games with a knock last month, but he only lasted 59 minutes before Eddie Howe took him off.

The manager may not have been impressed with a performance which saw the Brazilian lose six out of his seven ground duels, commit two fouls and pick up a yellow card.

Joelinton lost possession nine times overall, failing to complete the single cross and dribble that he attempted.

Dan Burn – 5.9/10

On a run of eight successive starts, the towering defender was also cautioned yesterday and didn’t fare much better than his Brazilian team-mate.

The 29-year-old lost all three of his ground duels and was also penalised for fouls on two occasions. In addition, he turned the ball over eight times and couldn’t find a team-mate with either of his long passes.

Matt Targett – 6/10

Targett has been selected every time that he has been available since making a loan switch from Aston Villa in January, but he completes the below-par trio of Newcastle players from Sunday’s defeat in north London.

He performed better than the aforementioned duo when it came to ground duels, winning three out of four, but he failed to enhance his team’s attacking threat, with four of his five crosses going astray on a less than stellar afternoon for him or his team. He was also guilty of losing the ball on seven occasions.

In other news, Keith Downie drops an update on Jonjo Shelvey

With West Brom currently six points behind league leaders Bournemouth and four behind second-placed Fulham, the Baggies have a great chance to potentially close the gap at the top of the Championship table with a home clash against 14th-placed Middlesbrough this afternoon.

Albion’s previous league outing saw them beat Hull City 1-0 thanks to a goal from Karlan Grant at The Hawthorns, putting them in a good position to secure another positive result this time around.

Regarding which players Ismael could select in his starting XI to take on Neil Warnock’s team, who were beaten 3-1 by Luton Town in midweek, we feel that one player who featured in the match against Hull and should be in the starting XI today is Adam Reach.

Why Reach must startAfter replacing the injured Kean Bryan in midweek, Reach had 51 touches of the ball, completed 26 passes (including three key passes), made two crosses, created one big chance, won two duels and completed one successful dribble.  That earned him an overall match rating of 7.1/10 from SofaScore, highlighting how useful he was for the Baggies when called upon.So far this season, the 28-year-old – who is currently valued at £2.52m by Transfermarkt – has made 12 appearances for the Baggies across all competitions.However, he had only played 12 minutes of action throughout his three previous Championship appearances for the Baggies prior to the Hull game, which suggests that his place in the team has diminished somewhat considering that he had a prolonged run in the team between mid-September and early October.Now that he managed to have a good performance against Hull, we think Reach – who has been described as a “top player” by former Baggies boss Tony Pulis when the duo were both at Sheffield Wednesday – should return to the starting XI against Middlesbrough to see if he can deliver another solid showing and start another consistent run of appearances for them.Also, with Reach having made 77 appearances for Middlesbrough earlier in his career, we believe that he may have an additional motivation to show his former club what they are missing this afternoon.In other news: Steve Madeley drops fresh West Brom transfer claim that’ll leave Baggies fans fuming

Gianluca Di Marzio has dropped an update on Tottenham Hotspur’s reported interest in a move for Lautaro Martinez.

What’s the talk?

In recent comments cited by FcInter1908 (via Sport Witness), the Sky Sports Italia journalist revealed that, following earlier reports suggesting that Antonio Conte has made the Inter Milan centre-forward one of his priority targets in the summer transfer window, there is a very good chance Fabio Paratici does make another move for the 24-year-old at the end of the current campaign.

Speaking about Spurs’ interest in the Argentina international, Di Marzio said: “Who will Tottenham go to if they qualify for the Champions League? Surely Antonio Conte wants another striker.

“We know that, even before he arrived in London, Fabio Paratici had tried to take Lautaro Martinez, but then Inter sold Lukaku and could not sell both.

“I expect a possible Tottenham offensive for him. Then it is true that he has renewed, but it is possible that Tottenham could present themselves again and we’ll see what kind of offer they might present.”

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Spurs supporters will love Di Marzio’s update

With backup and competition for Harry Kane having been something of an issue for Tottenham in recent years, with the club’s last permanent signing of a centre-forward being Fernando Llorente back in August 2017 – who subsequently left Spurs for Napoli just two years later – the suggestion that Paratici could pursue a deal for Martinez this summer is sure to be an update the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium faithful will love.

Indeed, the thought of the £63m-rated Argentine and Kane linking up in a front two in north London is an incredibly exciting one – not to mention being a duo that would somewhat replicate Conte’s devastating attacking two during Inter’s Scudetto-winning campaign under the 52-year-old.

Last season, in the Italian manager’s preferred 3-5-2 formation, Romelu Lukaku and Martinez scored 41 goals and registered 17 assists between them in the league, with Lukaku averaging an incredibly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.32 and Martinez averaging a 7.17 rating – ranking the duo as Conte’s first and third-best performers in Serie A respectively.

As such, it is clear for all to see that the prospect of Kane – who himself has scored 12 goals, provided six assists and averaged a SofaScore match rating of 7.29 in the Premier League this season – taking the place of Lukaku in this tandem will be a thought that terrifies defenders up and down the country.

And, with it being reported that Inter will be willing to listen to offers beginning at €70m (£59m) for the €125k-per-week (£105k-per-week) striker this summer, a deal for Martinez is one that Daniel Levy could very much afford to sanction.

AND in other news: Conte can finally axe “horrendous” liability as Spurs plot talks for £17m “revelation”

The Athletic journalist Greg O’Keeffe doesn’t think that either Rafael Benitez or the Everton board will be keen on signing Donny van de Beek. 

The lowdown

The Manchester United midfielder’s agent said in September that he had tried to find a new club for his client and that his search had ‘ended up at Everton’. He claimed that talks were held over a possible transfer, only for United to intervene and block any deal.

Van de Beek has been on the periphery at Old Trafford this season, playing just five minutes across the Red Devils’ first seven Premier League fixtures, and the Dutchman’s estimated transfer value has fallen to £22.5m as a result, having been just shy of £50m less than two years ago.

The latest

In a mailbag for The Athletic, O’Keeffe said that his ‘understanding of the situation’ is that Everton sporting director Marcel Brands was ‘made aware’ of Van de Beek’s availability late in the transfer window and ‘may have inquired’ about a possible move.

However, he doesn’t think the 24-year-old ‘is a player who fits into Benitez’s plans’ and explained that Brands’ role is seemingly to ‘source and present options’ to the board and the manager.

O’Keeffe suspects that they would have declined if Van de Beek was on the table, saying that ‘there’s a feeling he wouldn’t fit into the system’ given that two of Everton’s existing attacking midfield options, Richarlison and Demarai Gray, are ‘quicker and more dynamic’.

The verdict

Van de Beek demonstrated his class at Ajax, starring in their run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019, but concerns about whether Everton would be a good fit for him are not misplaced.

Realistically, Richarlison, Gray and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are all part of the Blues’ strongest XI, and in a 4-4-1-1 formation, that doesn’t really leave any room for Van de Beek.

Why would he move elsewhere in the Premier League when he could just be adopting a rotational role there which wouldn’t be much different from his current place on the Old Trafford periphery?

In other news, this announcement from the club had lots of Everton fans buzzing

James Ward-Prowse would not turn down a move to Tottenham this summer, says former Southampton midfielder Carlton Palmer.

Ward-Prowse has been heavily linked with a transfer to Aston Villa, with Sky Sports reporting last month that the Midlands club had a £25m bid rejected for the player.

And now, according to The Telegraph, Tottenham are also interested in signing the 26-year-old before the transfer window slams shut.

Southampton have already lost key players in Danny Ings – to Villa ironically – and Jannik Vestergaard and Palmer believes Ward-Prowse could follow them out of the St Mary’s exit door if Tottenham make an acceptable offer.

“You wouldn’t say no to Tottenham if there was a bid made and accepted,” the ex-Southampton player said to TT in an exclusive interview. “A player of ambition, you’re looking at Southampton, they’re selling their best players and they’re not replacing them.

“If an offer comes in at £35m, he will be gone to either Tottenham or Aston Villa.”

It will be interesting to see how this one ends because Ward-Prowse has four years left on his contract, while manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has also told reporters that he expects the England international to remain at St Mary’s.

However, the Saints have often shown that none of their assets are untouchable if the right offer comes in.

Manchester United are could finally end their striker hunt after being linked with a move for Sevilla’s Youssef En-Nesyri ahead of the upcoming January transfer window.

What’s the story?

According to Spanish outlet Super Deporte (as relayed by the Manchester Evening News), the Red Devils have the highly-rated 24-year-old on their ‘agenda’, with new manager Ralf Rangnick looking to make his mark on the first-team squad.

The report states that: “Manchester United has the Sevilla player Youssef En-Nesyri on the agenda…The English team are looking for a forward with good scoring figures, and En-Nesyri fits the profile they are managing.”

En-Nesyri was close to joining fellow Premier League outfit West Ham United in the summer after they had a €30 million (£25.5m) bid rejected, and Sevilla are said to be happy to let him leave ‘if a good offer arrives.’

Ralf Rangnick could end Man Utd’s striker hunt

With Edinson Cavani set to become a free agent at the end of the current campaign and Cristiano Ronaldo turning 37 in February, reinforcements at the top end of the pitch should be high up on Rangnick’s wishlist.

United have long been linked with an additional striker, and although Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland is believed to be their No.1 target, the competition for his signature is set to be fierce.

Therefore, viable alternatives will need to be assessed by the club’s hierarchy, and a potential move for the £36m-rated En-Nesyri could well be on the cards.

The Morocco international only arrived from La Liga minnows Leganes in January 2020, but he’s quickly established himself as one of the division’s elite forwards, bagging 24 goals in 52 appearances for Julen Lopetegui’s charges last term.

And his underlying number were equally as impressive. As per WhoScored, En-Nesyri averaged 2.1 shots per league game throughout 2020/21, 2.5 aerial duels won and 1.6 touches in the penalty area, placing him in the top two for each metric when compared to his teammates.

These returns saw pundit Terry Gibson dub the African forward a “world-beater” and highlight his truly top-class potential.

Whether Rangnick would deem En-Nesyri an ideal fit for his high-intensity pressing system remains to be seen, but it appears as though the United hierarchy are keeping close tabs of the 6 foot 2 target man.

And, in other news…Huge boost: David Ornstein delivers big Man Utd update, Rangnick will be elated

Wolves failed to take all three points from league strugglers Norwich City in their latest Premier League outing this afternoon, having to settle for a 0-0 draw against Dean Smith’s side.

One man who failed to impress at Carrow Road was Nelson Semedo, who played 76 minutes before being replaced by Leander Dendoncker.

During his time on the pitch, the right wing-back failed to have any sort of attacking impact, making no key passes or successful crosses to any of his teammates. The Portuguese international also lost possession of the ball on 19 occasions throughout the game, as well as picking up a yellow card.

Defensively, things weren’t much better for Semedo, who is currently earning just over £76k-per-week according to Spotrac, after losing seven duels and getting dribbled past on two occasions.

Described as being a defensive “liability” in the past by Wolves journalist Tim Spiers, this performance ultimately earned Semedo an overall match rating of 6.4/10, making him the lowest-rated Wolves player on the day according to SofaScore. That was even lower than Fransico Trincao, who failed to make a key pass or even have a shot on goal and was slated by numerous Wolves fans during and after the game.

Birmingham Live also picked up on Semedo’s less-than impressive display by giving him a match rating of 5/10, saying that he found Norwich attacker Milot Rashica “a little hot to handle” for periods of the game.

This performance let Bruno Lage down given that Wolves came away with just a point and failed to score against a team who are battling relegation and have conceded 27 league goals so far this season.

With Wolves set to take on Burnley at Molineux on Tuesday evening, this not only gives the Midlanders an opportunity to move on from today’s draw and get a win under their belts, it also gives Semedo a chance to once again prove himself to Lage that he is capable of playing to a high standard in his team.

In other news: one exciting Wolves deal is reportedly edging closer

All Leeds TV star Joe Wainman has hailed boss Marcelo Bielsa and director of football Victor Orta after the club plucked promising teenager Lewis Bate from Chelsea.

The midfielder has joined Leeds United for £1.5million ahead of the new season getting underway.

Bate, 18, has penned a three-year contract having been on Chelsea’s books for a decade and captained the Blues in the 2020 FA Youth Cup final.

Premier League rivals West Ham United, Liverpool, Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion were also looking to secure the talented youngster’s services after it became clear Bate was interested in a new challenge away from Stamford Bridge, but Elland Road proved to be his preferred destination.

Bate made 26 appearances at youth level last term, winning the Premier League 2 player of the month gong for December in the process, and was also named on the bench for the first-team’s FA Cup win at Barnsley in February.

Despite the lack of previous first-team opportunities in his career, Wainman believes Bate’s arrival should be seen as a coup for Leeds.

He told Football FanCast: “This kid is rated one of the best midfielders for his age group.

“I think he won the Premier League 2 player of the month for December and I know a lot of Chelsea fans were not happy that he was moving on. That’s always a good thing because the rivalry between Leeds and Chelsea is pretty healthy.

“For us to nick one of their better youth prospects is a massive plus. I can’t wait to see how he develops under Bielsa and at the club.”